[tylerhou]

The article concludes with a paragraph which basically echoes your sentiment. I don’t see much of your claimed “fear mongering” at all:

“The good news is that while the activists missed their big, showy target, they hit the often sketchy data arbitragers who do the real dirty work of the advertising machine. Facebook and Google ultimately are not constrained as much by regulation as by users. The first-party relationship with users that allows these companies relative freedom under privacy laws comes with the burden of keeping those users engaged and returning to the app, despite privacy concerns. Acxiom doesn’t have to care about the perception of consumers—they’re not even aware the company exists. For that reason, these third-party data brokers most need the discipline of regulation. The activists may not have gotten the legal weapon they wanted, but they did get the legal weapon that users deserve.”

In fact, many of your claims are wrong! The article argues that the new California regulations are a good thing, not a bad thing. And furthermore, it even directly acknowledges your point about how media complaints about privacy w.r.t. tech companies are usually misguided and not what we should actually be afraid about. You even make the same point about how tech giants have already adapted to GDPR.

You basically say “the article’s tone is bad” but then you make exactly the same arguments as the article.

I know it’s against HN rules to insinuate that commenters didn’t read the article, but your comment is so far off base w.r.t. the article’s content that I’m going to ask: did you even read the article? If you didn’t - kudos to you for having a very nuanced viewpoint; it’s certainly was much better than mine before I read it. (On the other hand, you really should read the entire article before criticizing it, though...)